News

01 March 2019

Final Conference "Baltic InteGrid: Towards a meshed offshore grid in the Baltic Sea" took place in Berlin

On 26 and 27 Februar 2019 the Baltic Integrid project has been concluded with a conference presenting the state of the art in offshore wind energy developments in the Baltic Sea Region and beyond. Among the speakers were Anne-Maria Ide from the DG Energy of the European Commission elaborating on the efforts towards the Energy Union in Europe as well as Giles Dickson from WindEurope who presented the past developments and current course of Offshore Wind Energy in Europe, as the world leader in this industry.

Furthermore, the Baltic InteGrid project could present and discuss the results and vision of the project towards a meshed offshore grid in the Baltic Sea region in the next decades (BOG 2050) with some 100 participants from research, policy and industry.

The end of the Baltic InteGrid project marked at the same time the beginning of the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum (BOGF), a network of major stakeholders and a series of events to further keep the momentum and advance the discussions about the challenges and opportunities of offshore wind energy development in the Baltic Sea region.

A roadmap to pave the way into the future of Offshore Wind Energy development in our region: "Baltic InteGrid: towards a meshed offshore grid in the Baltic Sea"

As the start of the final conference of the Baltic InteGrid project is apporaching and bringing along many of the concluding outputs of the project, we are glad and proud to present you the results.

One of the main outputs is a culminating compendium of the research conducted in the different disciplinary fields of major importance for the development of offshore wind energy in general and an integrated electricity generation system and transmission grid in particular, focussing on the Baltic Sea region. The report "Baltic InteGrid: towards a meshed offshore grid in the Baltic Sea" is laying out the key findings of the project at length, which can be further studied in even more depth in the underlying reports from the different thematic working groups of Baltic InteGrid.

As a follow-up to the BEMIP meeting in Hamburg on 27 September Baltic InteGrid had the chance to talk to Dr. Anne-Maria Ide from the European Commission about offshore wind and grid development in the Baltic Sea region. During the interview Ms. Ide shared her insights about the current work done under BEMIP in the field of renewable energy.

Another important output of the Baltic InteGrid project has been published. The document contains recommendations as part of the official consultation of the ENTSO-E's Ten Year Network Development Plan 2018 (TYNDP 2018). The recommendations are based on the findings from the Baltic InteGrid project and condense in one place the full knowledge and analytical results developed within the project.

Baltic Offshore Grid Forum: German Country Workshop was held in Hamburg

On 26 September 2018 the Country Workshop Germany was held as a side event during the WindEnergy Expo in Hamburg. The workshop was organized by the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation as part of the Baltic InteGrid’s Baltic Offshore Forum activities and brought together interdisciplinary stakeholders from industry, government, and civil society from Germany and beyond to reflect on the development potential for an integrated offshore energy grid and the development of offshore wind energy in German waters.

On 30-31 October 2018, the Baltic LINes and Baltic InteGrid projects organised a joint international Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) workshop and interactive simulation called “Energy Challenge for the Baltic Sea” in Copenhagen.

Baltic InteGrid project results presented at 4th meeting of the BEMIP Renewable Energy Working Group

Baltic InteGrid was invited to present the results of the project at the 4th Renewable Energy Working Group meeting of BEMIP, the European Commission’s Baltic Energy Market Integration Plan, at the Global Wind Summit in Hamburg on 27 September.

Major Baltic InteGrid output has been published: PreFeasibility Study report

While the Baltic InteGrid project is approaching its final phase, many outputs of the partnership are being finalized and will be continiously published on our website. The report “Towards a Baltic Offshore Grid: Connecting electricity markets through offshore wind farms” is finally out! As one of the main outputs it provides an in-depth analysis of the two case study areas identified as ideal cases for interconnectors between countries with high potential: an electrical connection between Poland, Sweden and Lithuania integrated with planned offshore wind farms in these countries and an analogical connection between Sweden and Germany.

If you want to know more about opportunities for offshore wind and interconnectors in the South Baltic you definitely have to read it.

From 25-28 September 2018 the WindEurope Conference will be held in Hamburg as a part of the Global Wind Summit 2018, the biggest event of its kind worldwide. During the WindEurope Conference Mariusz Wójcik one of Baltic Integrid’s project partners, will present the results of one of two PreFeasibility Studies, which have been conducted during the project.

For the first time the transmission systems of two countries have been connected via two offshore wind farms. Two submarine cables have been installed between the German operating platform of the offshore wind farm Baltic 2 and the Danish platform of the Kriegers Flak windpark.

On 7 June 2018 the Baltic Integrid’s communication platform – the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum (BOGF) held one of its key conferences, entitled “Offshore Grid and Offshore Wind Energy in the Baltic Sea – Opportunity for Integrating Energy Markets” in Warsaw. The event brought together around 100 experts from the Baltic Sea region. A number of individual presentations as well as panel discussions addressed challenges and opportunities of the Baltic Offshore Grid concept.

Moreover, the results of a pre-feasibility study were presented, which evaluates the technical, economic, regulatory and spatial requirements of offshore meshed grids infrastructure while using the example of two concrete case studies from the Baltic Sea Region: Poland-Sweden-Lithuania and Germany-Sweden integrated with interconnected offshore wind farms.

The IAEE (International Association for Energy Economics) has organised the 41st edition of their international conference which has again attracted delegates from the most influential governmental, corporate and academic energy decision-making institutions. The Baltic InteGrid study entitled “A Supra-National TSO To Achieve Offshore Meshed Grids Infrastructure In The Baltic Sea: A Legal-Regulatory Point Of View” was presented during the conference and has driven attention on the regulatory barriers to joint investment in an offshore meshed grid project and presented potential solutions at the cross-road between regulatory economics and law.

2nd Thematic Working Group Seminar on Technology and Grid Design in Lyngby (Denmark) marks the end of thematically focussed seminar series

On 23 May 2018 the 2nd Thematic Working Group (TWG) Seminar on "Technlogy & Grid Design" marked an intermediate milestone of the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum (BOGF), since it was the last of 12 TWG seminars in the project duration of the Baltic InteGrid project. The event took place in Lyngby/Copenhagen (Denmark) and was organised by the DTU as an official side event of the Nordic Clean Energy Week 2018. The event's title “Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Energy Grid Development 2035” has promised and delivered a profound insight into the future of technological developments driving offshore wind energy development in the Baltic Sea Region.

On May 15th 2018 another event of the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum (BOGF) took place in Bremerhaven (Germany) alongside the WINDFORCE Conference 2018: The joint Thematic Working Group Seminar "Environment & Society" and "Cost-Benefit Analysis".

The Baltic Offshore Grid Forum has continued its activities with a Thematic Working Group (TWG) seminar focussing on Market and Supply. The TWG seminar entitled „Which are the new markets in the Baltic Sea Region? “ was organised as part of the the 7th Future Conference: Wind & Maritime taking place in Rostock from 18 to 19 April 2018.

State-owned Polish Transmission System Operator, PSE, has said that as much as 8 GW of offshore wind capacity could be installed in the Polish Baltic Sea in the longer term. According to PSE President Eryk Kłosowski 4 GW of offshore wind could already be installed by 2026/27.

On Sunday, April 8, the heavy-duty crane barge Oleg Strashnov lifted the offshore substation topside for the Arkona wind farm on its jacket foundation. According to 50Hertz, the substation ensures security of supply and reduces costs for the German consumers, the wind farm operator and the transmission system operator alike.

In conjunction with the series of events held in Finland in mid-March, Baltic InteGrid had the chance to exchange with Anni Mikkonen, CEO, Finnish Wind Power Association (FWPA) about offshore wind power in Finnish waters. Mikkonen shared her insights on lasting barriers and future development potentials in the Finnish offshore wind energy sector and explained what her organisation expects from a future Baltic Offshore Grid Forum (BOGF).

The Baltic InteGrid Spatial Planning Working Group - led by the Maritime Institute in Gdansk (Poland) - has identified potential infrastructure corridors for a Baltic Offshore Grid. In two seminars, and in cooperation with the Baltic LINes project, the working group took a close look at present and planned sea uses in the Baltic Sea. Existing and planned linear infrastructure was mapped and the maritime spatial plans of the littoral states were analysed to identify potential spatial conflicts. In February 2018 representatives from the Baltic InteGrid project discussed potential corridors for a meshed offshore grid in the Baltic Sea.

The Wind Energy Department of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has developed a technology catalogue, which covers all crucial components needed to develop offshore grids and wind power. The catalogue can now be consulted as a comprehensive source supporting the various assessments carried out within Baltic InteGrid project.

Baltic Offshore Grid Forum: Finnish Country Workshop and two Thematic Working Group Seminars successfully concluded in Espoo

The Baltic Offshore Grid Forum has continued its activities in Espoo, Finland where partners met with experts on 15 and 16 March 2018 at three different events: The Finish Country workshop, with a national focus on offshore wind energy development, and two Thematic Working Group (TWG) seminars - one focusing on "the cost-benefit analysis of a meshed grid in the Baltic Sea region", and another on "a meshed offshore wind grid in the Baltic Sea: Opportunities and obstacles in the policy, legal and regulatory framework". The Baltic InteGrid partners had the opportunity to present their interim results of their activities to a wider audience and receive valuable feedback but were also able to receive substantial input from esteemed experts in the field of offshore wind energy with diverse organisational affiliations and backgrounds.

1st Polish Country Workshop conducted in Warsaw: „Development of integrated offshore transmission infrastructure for offshore wind energy in the South Baltic Sea”

The first of two Polish Country workshops was held in Warsaw as part of the Baltic InteGrid’s Baltic Offshore Grid Forum activities. Different stakeholders such as representatives of the government administration, maritime administration, transmission network operator and industry experts attended. The aim of the workshop was to consult and discuss the first results of the preliminary Feasibility Study for the Poland-Sweden-Lithuania interconnectors integrated with offshore wind farms. In addition, results of the analysis performed by FNEZ under the programme “Baltic Energy for Poland 2025” regarding the potential of offshore wind energy in Poland have been discussed.

Baltic InteGrid met the offshore wind industry during a side event at the WindEurope Conference and Exhibition 2017 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Danish Technical University together with Rostock Business organized a first Thematic Working Group Seminar on “Technology & Grid” and “Market & Supply”. The side event „Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Energy Grid Development 2035“ took place on Wednesday 29 November 2017 from 13:30 to 16:30.

Baltic InteGrid has succesfully the Thematic Working Group Seminar in Maritime Spacial Planning (MSP) in Lithuania on 22 November 2017. Thereby, Baltic LINes project partners have contributed essentially to the discussions and common challenges as well as opportunities for synergies of both projects were explore.

After presentations of relevant MSP aspects of both projects, the participants continued their discussions on thematically focused round tables.

The German TSO 50Hertz and the Danish TSO Energinet have now released an info video about the Kriegers Flak Combined Grid Solution, the world’s first offshore interconnector that will use national grid connections to offshore wind farms in order to connect two countries.

Iberdrola has announced that it has successfully completed the construction of all 70 wind turbines at the Wikinger offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea. The wind turbines of type AD 5-135 were installed by Adwen and Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.

The Baltic Sea Declaration – for the development of an offshore wind energy market

In the margin of the EUFORES 17th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Tallinn, WindEurope and the national wind energy associations from Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation have signed the Baltic Sea Declaration.

The Baltic InteGrid project reached an important milestone: September marked the end of the first half of the three-year funding period. Since March 2016, the project has organised a series of events, namely a Kick-off and a First Results Conference, Thematic Working Group Seminars on maritime spatial planning, policy and regulation, environment and society as well as a Country Workshop in Latvia.

Interview with Jan Kostevc, Infrastructure Regulation Officer at the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

We interviewed Jan Kostevc, Infrastructure Regulation Officer at the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the supranational agency monitoring the progress of key projects towards the European Energy Union. He has provided an account of the state of the art on the development of crucial infrastructure for an coordinated internal Energy market in the EU and his assessment on regulatory, technical and economic success factors for OWE farms in the Baltic Sea region with a meshed grid approach.

At the beginning of September the Finnish wind power producer Suomen Hyotytuuli Oy announced the inauguration of the Tahkoluoto offshore wind demonstration project. The 42-MW wind farm compromising 10 Siemens turbines of each 4.2 MW is the first one built off the Finnish coast.

Baltic InteGrid participates at 2nd meeting of the BEMIP Renewable Energy Working Group

The Baltic InteGrid project was invited to attend the second meeting of the BEMIP Renewable Energy Working Group in Brussels on the 5th of July 2017 along with the BEMIP Member States (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden), Norway, the European Commission, and other stakeholders. Stakeholders from the wind power industry emphasized the high potential of offshore wind energy generation in the Baltic Sea due to its strong winds, shallow waters and less populated shores than in the North Sea.

The recently published report "Unleashing Europe’s offshore wind potential - A new resource assessment" developed by BVG Associates for WindEurope points towards the considerable offshore wind energy potential in Europe. Offshore wind energy expected to produce 7% to 11% of the EU’s electricity demand by 2030 according to WindEurope, which is only a fraction what could actually be achieved. The report calls upon governments to ensure that the resource potential of OWE in the European sea basins is exploited.

As part of Baltic InterGrid’s communication platform – the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum – the conference “Towards a Meshed Grid: Offshore Wind Energy and Interconnectors in the Baltic Sea Region“ took place on the 16 May 2017 in Riga, Latvia. Together with external experts the project partners discussed the opportunities and challenges for the realization of an offshore meshed grid in the Baltic Sea. The debates focused on certain key issues such as the legal and regulatory frameworks, spatial constraints and respective economic conditions as well as the industry development in the Baltic Sea region (BSR).

Partners of the Baltic InteGrid Project attended the Wind Europe 2017 in London which was held from 6 to 8 June 2017 and declared as the world’s largest offshore conference and exhibition. This gave them a chance to meet stakeholders, promote the project and gain insights of the stance of some of the most relevant offshore wind energy (OWE) market actors OWE development in the Baltic Sea region.

A Personal Perspective on the Development of Offshore Wind Energy and the Baltic InteGrid Project

Baltic InteGrid brings together a large number of partners with different organisational backgrounds (e.g. universities, research institutes, companies, NGOs, etc.) and engaged individuals from all around. Read on the blog of the EU-DG Regional and Urban Policy how the energy transition in the EU can also be a personal journey from the fossil fuel industry to the renewable energy sources economy.

During the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) meeting in Brussels at the beginning of April, representatives of the Baltic Sea region countries agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in which the foreseen synchronization of the Baltic power grids will preferably occur via Poland.

Baltic InteGrid has conducted one of its planned country workshops in Latvia on 15 May 2017, to receive valuable insights into Offshore Wind Energy (OWE) development in Latvia and discuss opportunities and challenges. Representatives from the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Environment and Regional Planning could lay out the progress made in Renewable Energy development and the plans of OWE in it...

With the latest amendment to the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2017) Germany has replaced the feed-in tariffs with a competitive tender system for offshore wind energy. On 13 April the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) announced the results of the first German offshore wind energy tender. Impressively, three offshore wind projects with a total capacity of 1,380 MW won the tender with 0.0 ct/kWh bids and, therefore, will receive no subsidies on top of the wholesale electricity price.

During an interview, Lasse Sundahl, Project Manager, Group Regulatory Affairs, DONG Energy shares some practical experience from the industry's point of view. For the Baltic Integrid project this practical insight is important for the ongoing identification of obstacles and opportunities for the development of a meshed offshore infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region.

TenneT TSO B.V. (Netherlands), Energinet.dk (Denmark) and TenneT TSO GmbH (Germany) signed a trilateral agreement on March 23rd 2017 for the development of a large renewable European electricity system in the North Sea. This so-called ‘North Sea Wind Power Hub’ has the potential to supply 70 to 100 million Europeans with renewable energy by 2050.

Conference „Offshore wind energy an opportunity for the Polish economy” took place on 27 to 28 February 2017

In Warsaw, the conference „Offshore wind energy an opportunity for the Polish economy” took place on 27-28th February, 2017. The Conference brought together over 250 participants - representatives of government and authorities, the most important national and international maritime companies...

At the end of February 2017, the first meeting of the Thematic Working Group Environment and Society took place in Warsaw, organised by Foundation for Sustainable Energy, partner in the Baltic InteGrid project. During the seminar, together with project partners, representatives from Maritime Office in Gdynia, Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection, National Marine Fisheries Research Institute and General Command of the Polish Navy discussed environmental and socio-economic impacts of an offshore infrastructure...

February 2017 started with a special event for the offshore wind energy sector – the WINDFORCE Baltic Sea in Tallinn, Estonia. The two day conference focussed on the challenges for offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea.

Transmission System Operators 50Hertz (Germany) and Svenska kraftnät (Sweden) agreed on further important details regarding the planning and construction of the Hansa PowerBridge in the cooperation agreement that was now signed in Berlin.

On 25 November 2016, IKEM hosted the Thematic Working Group Seminar "Policy & Regulation" of the Baltic InteGrid project in Berlin to advance the discussions on policy and regulatory obstacles towards a meshed offshore grid in the Baltic Sea with stakeholders from the region.

Vattenfall has won the tender to build Danish Kriegers Flak, a 600 MW offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. The winning bid was EUR 49.9 per MWh, which is among the lowest costs in the world for offshore wind power.

1st Thematic Working Group seminar "Maritime Spatial Planning" has taken place in Gdansk, Poland

The partnership of the Baltic InteGrid convened in Gdansk on 4 and 5 October for the third internal partner meeting of the project, and for the very first Thematic Working Group (TWG). Hosted by the Maritime Institute of Gdansk, the TWG focused on the complex topic of Maritime Spatial Planning. Each country around the Baltic Sea is currently developing their national Maritime Spatial Plan, with some being very far along already, and others finding themselves in a much earlier stage of planning.

Interview with Dr. Olga Bogdanova, Policy Area Coordinator for the Policy Area Energy of the EUSBSR

Dr. Olga Bogdanova, Head of the Energy Market Unit and Deputy Director of the Energy Market and Infrastructure Department of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia is acting as Coordinator of the Policy Area Energy (of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. She was interviewed by Anika Nicolaas Ponder from the lead partner IKEM and shared her insights of the Energy Policy in the EU and the Baltic Sea Region.

The Baltic InteGrid's application for flagship status has been officially approved!

Good news for Baltic InteGrid from the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia, acting as EUSBSR Policy Area Coordinator for the Policy Area Energy (PA Energy): The recommendation of the PA to include Baltic InteGrid as a Flagship Project under PA Energy has been accepted by the BEMIP initiative, DG REGIO and national coordinators.

From 20-21 June the partners of the Baltic InteGrid met at the Technical University of Denmark – DTU, Risø Campus in Roskilde. During the meeting the consortium discussed concrete work steps and project milestones, and agreed on the project logo. A next project meeting including a first thematic working group seminar focused on spatial planning is scheduled for 4-5 October in Gdansk.

As the Lead of a 14-partner strong consortium, IKEM welcomed representatives of governments, transmission system operators, offshore wind industry and utility providers as well as legal, spatial planning and environmental experts from around the Baltic Sea region for the event on the 22 March 2016 in Berlin. The conference was the first in a series of expert events organized in the framework of the Baltic InteGrid project, taking place across the region over the next four years and which will form the Baltic OffshoreGrid Forum (BOGF). This also marked the beginning of the three year project, which will contribute to the knowledge of the potential, merits and challenges of an integrated offshore wind energy grid in the Baltic Sea.